Durum Wheat Tariff Profile

The most recent article in a Market Intel series on commodity-specific tariff profiles focuses on wheat.

The U.S. maintains a net trade balance on wheat of over $5.3 billion. As the second-largest exporter of wheat, the U.S. exported $6 billion in wheat and imported $687 million worth of the commodity in 2017. The U.S. charges a 0 percent tariff to all free trade agreement partners and charges a $0.65/kg tariff for all non-free trade agreement partners in the World Trade Organization.

China employs tariff-rate quotas for durum wheat. At the current rate, China charges a 1 percent tariff on a limited quantity of wheat coming into the country, after the quota is met, all other wheat imports are charged a 65 percent tariff. However, with the retaliatory tariffs in place right now, the U.S. is charged 26 percent for wheat imports that are in quota, and 90 percent for wheat imports that are out of quota.